First of cash-strapped conservation offices to close Friday

Friday

At least 18 of Illinois’ 98 Soil and Water Conservation District offices will close by June 1 because money promised in the state budget is not being provided.

At least 18 of Illinois’ 98 Soil and Water Conservation District offices will close by June 1 because money promised in the state budget is not being provided.

One of those, in Lawrence County in southeastern Illinois, will close today (Friday), said Richard Nichols, executive director of the Association of Illinois Soil and Water Conservation Districts.

The Scott County office will close May 1, and others in the area told the association they will follow in another month, including those in Morgan, Macoupin and Christian counties.

“Districts will still exist. Directors will still have an office, but the employees won’t be there to provide services,” Nichols said.

The districts work with private landowners to administer government conservation programs. They assist farmers in dealing with erosion problems, including engineering and design work for projects such as sediment-retention basins and dry dams built to control erosion.

The Sangamon County Soil and Conservation District, which has five full-time employees and one part-timer, is not in danger of closing, said executive director Barb Mendenhall. However, one of the district’s programs is feeling the financial pinch.

The Conservation Practices Program, which shares costs with private property owners, hasn’t gotten promised money from the state. The district is working off of funding left over from last year’s budget, Mendenhall said.

“We always have a list of people with work they would like to have done,” she said.

Gov. Rod Blagojevich’s budget office has said it has no choice but to withhold funds from the districts because state tax collections are coming in below expectations. The administration believes there is a $750 million hole in the budget for the fiscal year that ends June 30.

The budget office released a written statement Thursday again encouraging lawmakers to approve a plan that allows the governor to take money from restricted state accounts to make up the shortfall.

“Ag isn’t the only group affected,” spokeswoman Kelly Quinn said. “Some grants for education are also being held.”

Nichols, though, thinks there is a reason money is being withheld from conservation districts and the University of Illinois Cooperative Extension Services offices.

“When you look at the groups affected, it appears downstate interests have been singled out,” Nichols said. “We think the possibility is there that Gov. Blagojevich is attempting to apply pressure to downstate legislators to approve his programs.”

Nichols pointed out that Soil and Water Conservation Districts aren’t only downstate. A district that serves both Kane and DuPage counties in the Chicago suburbs also has told Nichols that it will probably have to shut down June 1.

Extension offices statewide are trying to figure out how to cope with the funding shortfall, and U of I Extension is bracing for the loss of as many as 450 jobs in its offices.

“We are worried about cutbacks in staff,” said Monica David, U of I Extension coordinator for the Master Gardener program. “The fear is we will have to cut back the programs master gardeners are offering to the public, if we don’t have the staff to manage the volunteers. If we don’t have the staff, we will be in deep doo-doo.”

Jennifer Fishburn, who oversees the Master Gardener program for the Sangamon-Menard Extension office, said the 133 master gardeners in the two counties collected more than 47,000 pounds of fresh produce for area food banks. The food came from a program that encourages gardeners to grow additional vegetables for donation.

Robin Orr, the U of I Extension specialist who runs the Food Stamp Nutritional Education Program, said, “In a worst possible scenario, we could lost 40 to 60 percent of the program” that provides information on nutrition, food budgeting and even cooking schools for people who receive food stamps.

Doug Finke can be reached at (217) 788-1527.

Here are some programs overseen by Cooperative Extension and Soil and Water Conservation District offices:

-- Conservation Practices Program — Administered by conservation districts, it helps landowners control erosion, including through construction of grass terraces, sediment-control basins, dry dams and other structures. District staff will advise a landowner on the best option for controlling a particular erosion problem and do design and surveying work. Costs are shared, with 60 percent coming from the district (from state funds) and 40 percent from the landowner.

-- Conservation Reserve Enhancement Program — Also administered by the conservation districts, this program encourages farmers to take land out of production that is within a 100-year floodplain. Grass or trees on the land instead of crops reduces sediment flowing into waterways. Landowners are compensated. District offices administer the state portion of the program, including monitoring to ensure crops aren’t later planted on the land.

-- 4-H — The largest program run through Cooperative Extension, 4-H has about 480,000 participants statewide ages 8 to 18. Although 4-H is usually associated with agricultural and livestock showings, it offers programs in areas such as computer science, rocketry, home economics, natural resources, mechanical sciences, community service and more than 200 others. Entry point for the program is mostly through local Extension offices, said Sharon Petefish, Extension specialist for 4-H youth development. More than 27,000 volunteers work with 4-H, in addition to full-time Extension staff who oversee the program locally.

-- Master Gardener — Another Extension program that has more than 3,300 volunteers who work with youngsters, jail inmates, visit nursing homes, and conduct other programs to teach the art of gardening and answer questions about gardening issues. People who want to become master gardeners apply through local Extension offices and then must complete 60 hours of training in horticulture, plant diseases, insects, soils and other issues. After passing an exam, master gardeners keep the designation by continuing to spend time working with the public.

-- Family Nutrition Program — County Extension offices administer this program to provide a million-plus people on food stamps with a variety of nutrition-related information. It can include how to make the most of a food-stamp allocation, how to shop for good grocery deals, how to read food labels, budgeting, food safety and even cooking tips. Many of those hired to offer this advice are food-stamp recipients themselves, said Robin Orr, U of I Extension specialist. Staff goes to churches, community centers, schools and “places where people on food stamps live and work and play,” she said.

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